Bulgarian tax officials and prosecutors climbed into a helicopter yesterday in a novel search for tax evaders and their sumptuous holiday residences.
The flight over Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast uncovered some 20 luxurious villas, including a 2,000-square-metre mansion equipped with an artificial lake whose owners now face checks for possible tax evasion, national revenue agency spokesman Rosen Bachvarov said. It was the latest effort by the tax administration to find out what lies behind the tall walls of certain estates, many of which belong to high-profile politicians and state employees, he added. Earlier this week, Bulgarian TV channels broadcast helicopter footage of exquisite villas on the outskirts of Sofia and Plovdiv.
One construction was equipped with a helicopter landing pad, while other estates revealed huge swimming pools, swan lakes and even private zoos. (AFP)
Birthday coincidence
Proud parents Jennifer and Driss Allali spoke of their joy after their son was born on October 7 – the same birth date as his two older siblings.
Sami Allali came into the world 10 days overdue weighing 7lb 6oz following just a 10 minute labour at Eastbourne District General Hospital in East Sussex.
Mr Allali, an Arabic and English translator, said he was amazed he was born on the same date as three-year-old Adam and his five-year-old sister Najla. (PA)
Hairdresser’s warning
A hairdresser issued a health warning to others in the industry as she described how her nose collapsed after years of inhaling human hairs.
Mother-of-three Edwina Phillipson, 51, said the millions of tiny fragments of hair she breathed in during her 35-year career as a hairdresser lodged in her nose and led to an infection that eventually caused a hole to open in her septum.
Just two weeks ago Mrs Phillipson, who runs her own unisex salon in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, Northumberland, had an operation at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital to repair the open wound and now wears a surgical mask when she works to protect her nose. (PA)
Senior citizen
A Texas woman marked the 101st anniversary of her arrival in the US as a Mexican-born baby by finally becoming a citizen of her adopted homeland.
Mother-of-two Eulalia Garcia-Maturey took the oath of allegiance from a federal magistrate in Brow-nsville during a special naturalisation ceremony administered by US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Ms Garcia-Maturey was born in Mexico on February 12 1909, and arrived in Brownsville with her parents on October 12 that year. Her family said part of the reason she waited so long to take the oath was that her husband, who died in 1982, did not want her to. (PA)
Football juggler
A Malaysian student is hoping to juggle a football for up to 28 hours, smashing the current world record.
Yee Ming Low thinks he can break the current record of 26 hours held by Dan Magness, a 27-year-old football freestyler from Guildford, Surrey. He estimates it will take more than 240,000 touches to beat it.
The 19-year-old, from Kuala Lumpur, is currently studying business and management at the University of Derby and has featured on YouTube. (PA)
High hopes
Khagendra Thapa Magar of Nepal is a little man facing a big day. Today – his 18th birthday – assuming his measurements read the expected 25.8 inches (just under 66 centimetres), he will officially be named the world’s shortest man.
His family has been campaigning for years to get Thapa the crown, but requests to the Guinness World Records people were rejected because he might grow. Up to now he was certified as the shortest male teenager.
Once his measurements are taken three times in the span of 10 hours he is expected to overtake Edward Nino Hernandez of Colombia, who measures a relatively towering 27 inches (70 centimetres). (PA)
Rocker’s memoir
Goodness, gracious, Jerry Lee Lewis is writing his autobiography.
It Books, a subsidiary of HarperCollins, said the rock ‘n’ roller’s currently untitled memoir was due in 2012. Lewis, through the publisher, said: “People can read it, burn it, or never give it another thought. Either way the truth is about to be told, and I’m the only man still standing who can touch it.”
Mr Lewis, famous for such piano-driven smashes as Great Balls Of Fire and Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On, is equally well-known for his wild private life, from getting thrown out of Bible school to his marriage to a 13-year-old cousin that nearly destroyed his career. (PA)